Sunday, August 19, 2007

It's the middle of August now which means that summer sale season is basically over [eyes become misty].

I was out shopping in Shinjuku on Friday. I picked up a Hyper-Cardioid microphone to help make voice recordings less awkward and more efficient. On my way to "Don Quijote" to look at undershirts, I noticed a large pear-shaped man dressed in a black tank-top and black shorts walking towards me. Just as he was weaving between myself and a young couple, he knocked into the girl.

She didn't really seem to notice, and her boyfriend was busy joking about something, so they just carried on their way. But I could have sworn that he reached out and elbowed her on purpose.

He had already passed me, so I turned around as the above thought process was still sliding around inside my head. Just as I turned I saw him do it again. Boom! This time the young woman noticed because it must have hurt. A forearm shiver isn't pleasant even when you are expecting it.

My immediate reaction was to get angry, but then I decided to just follow him. Approaching him about his behavior could have turned ugly, and since I'm a guest in this country it would quickly have been decided that I was in the wrong. So following him was about the best I could do.

I immediately noticed a pattern; he only targets young women. He never elbowed any men, and women who appeared to be over the age of 40 were off the hook as well. Only nicely dressed ladies who looked like they might be high school age or older qualified, and he would walk out of his way to tag some unsuspecting lady with his forearm.

I started following him near the ABC Mart (shoe shop) that is closest to the Don Quijote in Kabuki-cho. He forearmed at least 6 women (some could nearly be classified as body-checks because he was literally three times the size of some of his targets) before I stopped following him when he bought a JR ticket and got on the train at Shinjuku station.

I wonder what is going on in this guy's mind. He went about elbowing women like it was a very normal part of his day--almost like it was his job. Furthermore, he never looked back to see the reaction of the person he had just bashed into (and possibly bruised).

More importantly, I'm wondering how to video blog. I have video of him bumping into a woman in Shinjuku station that was taken with my phone. The quality isn't great, but it's enough to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

It's the middle of August now which means that summer sale season is basically over [eyes become misty].

I was out shopping in Shinjuku on Friday. I picked up a Hyper-Cardioid microphone to help make voice recordings less awkward and more efficient. On my way to "Don Quijote" to look at undershirts, I noticed a large pear-shaped man dressed in a black tank-top and black shorts walking towards me. Just as he was weaving between myself and a young couple, he knocked into the girl.

She didn't really seem to notice, and her boyfriend was busy joking about something, so they just carried on their way. But I could have sworn that he reached out and elbowed her on purpose.

He had already passed me, so I turned around as the above thought process was still sliding around inside my head. Just as I turned I saw him do it again. Boom! This time the young woman noticed because it must have hurt. A forearm shiver isn't pleasant even when you are expecting it.

My immediate reaction was to get angry, but then I decided to just follow him. Approaching him about his behavior could have turned ugly, and since I'm a guest in this country it would quickly have been decided that I was in the wrong. So following him was about the best I could do.

I immediately noticed a pattern; he only targets young women. He never elbowed any men, and women who appeared to be over the age of 40 were off the hook as well. Only nicely dressed ladies who looked like they might be high school age or older qualified, and he would walk out of his way to tag some unsuspecting lady with his forearm.

I started following him near the ABC Mart (shoe shop) that is closest to the Don Quijote in Kabuki-cho. He forearmed at least 6 women (some could nearly be classified as body-checks because he was literally three times the size of some of his targets) before I stopped following him when he bought a JR ticket and got on the train at Shinjuku station.

I wonder what is going on in this guy's mind. He went about elbowing women like it was a very normal part of his day--almost like it was his job. Furthermore, he never looked back to see the reaction of the person he had just bashed into (and possibly bruised).

More importantly, I'm wondering how to video blog. I have video of him bumping into a woman in Shinjuku station that was taken with my phone. The quality isn't great, but it's enough to demonstrate what I'm talking about.